RYHOPE LOOK TO BUILD ON SUPERB WIN OVER LEADERS
Ryhope CW are targeting an unbeaten end to the season according to assistant manager Chris McCabe.
Gary Pearson’s men head into tomorrow’s trip to Ashington on the back of an impressive win at league leaders Dunston UTS.
The game at Woodhorn Lane will be followed by home games against Stockton Town, North Shields and Seaham Red Star, as well as a visit to Newcastle Benfield.
Confidence is understandably high for Ryhope and McCabe admitted he sees “no reason” why they can’t end their season with an unbeaten run.
He told the club’s website: “We go into it with a lot of confidence.
“But if you go to somewhere like Dunston and win, then you go to Ashington, no disrespect to Ashington, and lose, the result at Dunston doesn’t mean a lot.
“We have set them a challenge, we want to go unbeaten until the end of the season.
“Hopefully we can, but we will see how we fare on Saturday.
“We have five games left and we set them a challenge ahead of the Dunston game asking them to win all six.
“I don’t see any reason why we can’t.
“On our day, we can beat anyone in this league.
“Five games left, let’s hope we can win all five.”
Seaham Red Star manager Mark Collingwood wants his side to use their trip to West Auckland Town as an indicator of how far them have come in recent weeks.
Last weekend’s 2-0 home win against North Shields was Red Star’s fourth win in their last five games and Collingwood believes that his side have to show that they are on the up.
“We are going down there with very little pressure and we are going down there to try our best and see how far we have come,” he said.
“Can we do it week-in, week-out?
“We had a setback last Tuesday against a very good Hebburn Town side who, in years gone by, have been in a very similar position to ourselves.
“They are on the up and that’s where we want to be.
“This time next year we want to be competing and challenging for honours.
“West Auckland are a great side, with great players, it’s a good test, but it’s just another game to us.”
Sunderland RCA are boosted by the return of Kyle Davis and Ash Croft ahead of their home game against promotion-chasing Consett.
Manager Martin Swales revealed that striker Mark Davison will face a fitness test after picking up a knock in last weekend’s defeat at Hebburn Town.
League leaders Dunston UTS will hope to bounce back from their midweek home defeat against Ryhope CW with a win at North Shields and third-placed Bishop Auckland entertain Stockton Town.
Hebburn Town have been handed a major boost ahead of their visit to Newton Aycliffe as key defender Dan Groves returns to their squad following a hernia operation.
New manager Nathan Haslam takes charge of Whitley Bay for the first time when they visit Shildon after he was appointed on Tuesday.
Guisborough Town have several injury issues ahead of a big game at Whickham.
Defender Nathan Guru and striker Carl Lawson have been ruled out of the game and manager Gary Forster will hand late fitness tests to Matthew Crust and Charlie Marshall.
Bottom of the table Penrith are targeting a third consecutive win when they host Newcastle Benfield.